Tag: Space X

Far-right trolls have switched their focus from smearing Hillary Clinton and is now gunning for tech wiz Elon Musk – fearing that he might try a political career.

Bloomberg claims that hard-right groups are lining up to back misleading websites and fake journalists who attack Musk’s business empire.

The focus of the attacks is partly true. His businesses were built, legally, with the help of billions in government contracts and incentives for renewable energy and space transport.

But the stories are going on to accuse Musk of fraud and wasting taxpayer dollars. Three conservative sites have run negative pieces about Musk—by a nonexistent writer named “Shepard Stewart”. These stories include “Elon Musk Continues to Blow Up Taxpayer Money With Falcon 9” and “Elon Musk: Faux Free Marketeer and National Disgrace”. Two later retracted the stories.

Sam Jaffe, managing director of Cairn Energy Research Advisors said that whoever is behind the attacks is aiming at Musk personally because they fear he could go into politics. The pattern is the same which were levelled at Hillary Clinton when it became clear she would be running.

There were allegations of fraud and negligence levied at Clinton during the presidential campaign which successfully cemented the public’s perception of her as shady.

“It’s the exact same thing as Musk. There’s a portion of the political spectrum that is scared to death of Musk as politician. They see him as a threat. They’re starting that process.”

One anti-Musk website, Stop Elon From Failing Again launched earlier this year with the mission of becoming a “one-stop database on stopping Elon Musk.” The site combines news aggregated from mainstream sources with pickups from conservative think tanks, plus some of its own posts.

The site is backed by the Citizens for the Republic political action committee, which is led by Laura Ingraham, a right-wing radio host currently under consideration for White House press secretary.

One of the site’s most recent pieces, produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation, compared Musk to “Enron and Bernie Madoff.”

Musk’s SpaceX, which competes with the Boeing- and Lockheed Martin-backed United Launch Alliance, was also targeted this year. The website “Who Is Elon Musk?” produced a stream of stories critical of SpaceX and Musk, just as the former was being considered for government contracts.

Private rocket outfit SpaceX is asking the US government to approval its cunning plan to operate a massive satellite network that would provide high-speed, global internet coverage.

According to its US Federal Communications Commission application, Space X plans an orbiting digital communications array that would eventually consist of 4,425 satellites.

The project, which Musk previously said would cost at least $10 billion, was first announced in January 2015. Signed up to the project are Google and Fidelity Investments, which together have contributed $1 billion to Musk’s space launch firm.

The proposed SpaceX network would begin with the launch of about 800 “care sized” satellites to expand internet access in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

“The system is designed to provide a wide range of broadband and communications services for residential, commercial, institutional, government and professional users worldwide,” SpaceX said in technical documents accompanying its filing.

It is not the only outfit planning this. Similar internet-via-satellite arrays are under development by privately owned OneWeb and by Boeing.

The system would provide a space-based alternative to cable, fibre-optics and other terrestrial internet access currently available. However, it will be more expensive and probably require higher powered phones.
SpaceX did not say when its launches would occur. The satellites would be launched into orbits ranging from 714 miles to 823 miles above the planet.